Northern Orange County, CA

[Tuky 0]

Although I have been playing SC4 since it came out, this is the first time I have started a region with the goal of it being a long term project and so I thought it would also be good to have it be my first CJ. This is going to based off of the northern part of Orange County, California. The first major phase will be to recreate this area as well as I can with my amateur skills so that it represents how the area currently looks. The 2nd phase will be to gradually re-make the region into what it could evolve into over the next few decades if the population experiences a period of sustained rapid growth. Initially the mods I will be using are the latest NAM, the Industry 4x mod, a simoleon tree to fund initial development (once phase 1 near completion all money trees will be removed and the region will need to be self-sustaining) and the RoadTop MT mod.

So first the region in question:

This region is 46km x 34km and includes most of Northern Orange County (some of the far NW corner is not represented), a large chunk of Central OC, and small portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties. In total there is >2 million residents in the real world area this region is meant to be a recreation of although I have a feeling in SC4 the population is going to end up being significantly higher in Phase 1 and at least an order of magnitude higher in Phase 2.

Difficulties: The major obstacle in re-creating this area aside from the time involved is the fact that in many cases in OC when streets are running straight, they are not running along a cardinal direction but instead like to run NW-SE or NE-SW, etc. When they do run N-S or E-W, it's in the large flat areas without strong geographical landmarks to use as points of reference. In the places where there are good geographical references (hills, passes, canyons, etc), the streets not only avoid cardinal directions, but they tend to avoid running straight for any decent length since they try to conform to some extent to the local topography. So to work with this problem I have first exaggerated the elevations when creating the region so that I could see some of the geographic landmarks needed as reference points for some of the major roads. This means the tops of the mtns in the eastern section of the region get cut off but they are within a national forest anyways and only have a bunch of communication towers so the trade-off is worth it IMO.

So, I start with the easy to identify geographical features and the roads that run in those areas. As these numerous roads move from the hills to the plains, corrections will be made as needed so that when I get to the more traditional grid-type road map in the western part of the region, it should be reasonably accurate in terms of scale. I realize there are other ways to accomplish this but since I am new at a project of this scope, this is the method that works easiest for me.

Anyhow, to illustrate what I mean here is the NE corner of the map:

Towards the right end of the map is the Prado Dam and the Flood Control Basin it contains (north of the dam.) Water features are another issue in this region but I will figure out a work-around for those later on.

On the left side of the map towards the center is the beginning of the 91 Freeway and traveling south from the 91 over the hills is Imperial Hwy (it's actually an avenue but is called California Highway 90 or Imperial Hwy due to historical reasons.)

The valley between Imperial Hwy and the Prado Damn hold the Santa Ana River which in this section is straddled by the cities of Yorba Linda to the north and Anaheim Hills to the south. I have begun laying out local roads in both of these cities and done some residential zoning, sticking to my strategy of using geographical features as landmarks when possible. Once I get these 2 cities fleshed out more I will post some views at the city level instead of just the regional level.

Note:

In the SE corner of the map you will see the effect of not removing the scale bar from the DEM data (correct terminology?) This scale was intentionally left in because the area it covers is uninhabited hills and I thought I would have a little fun with it later on once the rest of the region is fleshed out.

  Edited April 4, 2011 by Tuky  

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Cool idea!

[Tropic Storm 15]

Although I have been playing SC4 since it came out, this is the first time I have started a region with the goal of it being a long term project and so I thought it would also be good to have it be my first CJ. This is going to based off of the northern part of Orange County, California. The first major phase will be to recreate this area as well as I can with my amateur skills so that it represents how the area currently looks. The 2nd phase will be to gradually re-make the region into what it could evolve into over the next few decades if the population experiences a period of sustained rapid growth. Initially the mods I will be using are the latest NAM, the Industry 4x mod, a simoleon tree to fund initial development (once phase 1 near completion all money trees will be removed and the region will need to be self-sustaining) and the RoadTop MT mod.

So first the region in question:

This region is 46km x 34km and includes most of Northern Orange County (some of the far NW corner is not represented), a large chunk of Central OC, and small portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties. In total there is >2 million residents in the real world area this region is meant to be a recreation of although I have a feeling in SC4 the population is going to end up being significantly higher in Phase 1 and at least an order of magnitude higher in Phase 2.

Difficulties: The major obstacle in re-creating this area aside from the time involved is the fact that in many cases in OC when streets are running straight, they are not running along a cardinal direction but instead like to run NW-SE or NE-SW, etc. When they do run N-S or E-W, it's in the large flat areas without strong geographical landmarks to use as points of reference. In the places where there are good geographical references (hills, passes, canyons, etc), the streets not only avoid cardinal directions, but they tend to avoid running straight for any decent length since they try to conform to some extent to the local topography. So to work with this problem I have first exaggerated the elevations when creating the region so that I could see some of the geographic landmarks needed as reference points for some of the major roads. This means the tops of the mtns in the eastern section of the region get cut off but they are within a national forest anyways and only have a bunch of communication towers so the trade-off is worth it IMO.

So, I start with the easy to identify geographical features and the roads that run in those areas. As these numerous roads move from the hills to the plains, corrections will be made as needed so that when I get to the more traditional grid-type road map in the western part of the region, it should be reasonably accurate in terms of scale. I realize there are other ways to accomplish this but since I am new at a project of this scope, this is the method that works easiest for me.

Anyhow, to illustrate what I mean here is the NE corner of the map:

Towards the right end of the map is the Prado Dam and the Flood Control Basin it contains (north of the dam.) Water features are another issue in this region but I will figure out a work-around for those later on.

On the left side of the map towards the center is the beginning of the 91 Freeway and traveling south from the 91 over the hills is Imperial Hwy (it's actually an avenue but is called California Highway 90 or Imperial Hwy due to historical reasons.)

The valley between Imperial Hwy and the Prado Damn hold the Santa Ana River which in this section is straddled by the cities of Yorba Linda to the north and Anaheim Hills to the south. I have begun laying out local roads in both of these cities and done some residential zoning, sticking to my strategy of using geographical features as landmarks when possible. Once I get these 2 cities fleshed out more I will post some views at the city level instead of just the regional level.

Note:

In the SE corner of the map you will see the effect of not removing the scale bar from the DEM data (correct terminology?) This scale was intentionally left in because the area it covers is uninhabited hills and I thought I would have a little fun with it later on once the rest of the region is fleshed out.

This is really neat of what you came up with. I've never attempted at recreating an entire section of a city. Only fantasy/fiction cities is something I'm good at.

From looking at the roadplan on Google Maps, it doesn't seem that as hard to make this roadplan. Most of the roads like you said runs in a straight grid line system. Surprisingly, the entire grid comes out as near dead-even accuracy in the North and West points of majority of the grid itself on the map (My link)

If you have something like a Photoshop program, you might be able to copy the Terraformer on-top view of Orange Cty, the config file (to gauge the SC4 city borders), and (if possible) the roadplan of the Orange County road networks from Google Maps and smash them together to make a near-perfect blueprint to gauge where each road and freeway should be placed.

If you need any help just PM me.

Cheers

Tropic Storm

[Ironic-Veneer 1]

Interesting idea. The maxis terrain actually fits the LA area pretty well, and I really wonder how you're going to chose to develop the region beyond the current development levels. Also, in terms of making a dam, you might find ploppable water very helpful. One sidenote, though: what's the stuff in the SE corner?

  Edited April 5, 2011 by Ironic-Veneer  

[Tuky 0]

Slowly but surely the major avenues and freeways are being filled in. The focus has mostly been in the northern section of the region due to the topography there providing good markers on where to start some of the major roads. I finally caved and am using the distance ruler function in Google Earth to try and make the scale some-what accurate. I tried playing with some of the realistic road/fw mods but due to the time required to apply that level of realism and the size of the region, I have decided to stick with the game designed roads/fw's. Anyhow, for now here is the transportation map

Major Roads/Freeways:

In the northern part of the map the major avenue running E-W is Imperial Hwy, CA State Route 90. After it intersects Brea Blvd (see next paragraph) it starts to turn to follow a NW-SE path. Just to the north is Rose Drive which also travels E-W but then makes a sharper turn to a N-S path. There is a big gap in Imperial just after it intersects Rose Dr and then it picks up again where it eventually follows a N-S direction into the hills. That is just a gap in what I have completed and not a real-world gap.

The y-branching road that intersects Imperial is Harbor Blvd. The western branch and southern branch carry the Harbor Blvd name while the branch that heads off to the NE is called Brea Blvd.

To the west of Harbor is Euclid St, then Gilbert St, and finally Beach Blvd (CA SR 39.)

Skipping freeways, the next major E-W avenue is La Palma Ave followed by Ball/Taft Rd (Ball Rd in the west, Taft in the east.)

South of that are sections of Katella Ave and Chapman Ave and then 17th St/Westminster Blvd (17th in the east, Westminster in the west) and finally 1st St.

On a side note, there are 2 major E-W Chapman Avenues in Orange County. One to the north in Fullerton and one to the south in Anaheim and Orange. The one I am referencing is the southern one. They are separated by a good 9km and if you are traveling on the 57 Freeway (which runs N-S), you will come upon exits for both which can be a source of confusion for those unfamiliar with the area.

In roughly the center of the map running N-S are Tustin Ave and the 55 Freeway.

It will be a while until my next update but by then I will try to get some greater detail in some of the areas to make it worth showing city-level shots.

[Benedict 3,119]

I'm not familiar with that part of the US at all, however you have made some really great progress - I'm looking forward to the next update.

[Kusajika Yachiru 9]

90? Um... don't you mean the CA Highway 91 (The Orange Crush)? The highway that snakes through that canyon is one I take often to go to the beachs or LA itself from Riverside. but I might be a little lost... trying to picture the area as I know it from what you have presented. Heh... keep it coming along! Don't forget Disneyland lols and Knotts Berry Farm. Grr... spoiled rich people get two amusment parks and beachs too...

[hamsterTK 93]

I think the toughest part will be finding enough suburban residential housing BAT's that look like what you'd find in say, Rancho Margarita or whatever its called.

Doing Santa Ana and Irvine won't be as tough though. There is also an Amtrak Surfliner mod out there too.

[Tuky 0]

The Freeway that snakes through the Santa Ana Canyon connecting Corona/Riverside with Orange County is the CA Highway 91. But if you are traveling along the 91 heading west from the canyon into Yorba Linda, the 91 intersects with Imperial Hwy (which is just an avenue and not a real freeway.) Imperial Hwy is also called CA Highway 90. On the transportation map avenues show up pretty well so you can see Imperial Hwy/Hwy 90 up in the northern part of the map while the 91 Freeway is harder to see. When I next post some screen shots I'll add some labels to make things a little clearer.

As for realism on the residential lots, if I have the patience to see this project all the way through I guess I will eventually have to custom plop a lot of lots. In the hillier areas the, stucco sided houses with tile roofs are popular while in the flatter regions, houses with wood-siding and asphalt shingles are more common. Santa Ana, while large, should be easier to do than some place because it's architectual style is pretty consistent throughout the city and the streets for the most part follow N-S/E-W directions. Irvine on the other hand like diagonal and curvy streets and even streets that double back on themselves so it's going to be a major pain. I'll avoid doing Irvine as long as possible

[Kusajika Yachiru 9]

The Freeway that snakes through the Santa Ana Canyon connecting Corona/Riverside with Orange County is the CA Highway 91. But if you are traveling along the 91 heading west from the canyon into Yorba Linda, the 91 intersects with Imperial Hwy (which is just an avenue and not a real freeway.) Imperial Hwy is also called CA Highway 90. On the transportation map avenues show up pretty well so you can see Imperial Hwy/Hwy 90 up in the northern part of the map while the 91 Freeway is harder to see. When I next post some screen shots I'll add some labels to make things a little clearer.

As for realism on the residential lots, if I have the patience to see this project all the way through I guess I will eventually have to custom plop a lot of lots. In the hillier areas the, stucco sided houses with tile roofs are popular while in the flatter regions, houses with wood-siding and asphalt shingles are more common. Santa Ana, while large, should be easier to do than some place because it's architectual style is pretty consistent throughout the city and the streets for the most part follow N-S/E-W directions. Irvine on the other hand like diagonal and curvy streets and even streets that double back on themselves so it's going to be a major pain. I'll avoid doing Irvine as long as possible

Oh... imperial hwy, I forget about it... I take the express lanes so I go past it all the time. Too crowded even if I wanted to take it. As for advoiding Irvine, good call... I do it all the time

[jacqulina 162]

great start my friend

[Jman47 0]

this is really interesting.

I live just a few blocks away from beach boulevard, where it forms a 3 way intersection with Whittier boulevard.

technically I'm in Los Angeles county but Im right near it's eastern border and I know the area pretty well.

Imperial highway as stated isn't really a highway but more an avenue in SC4 dimensions. It actually goes pretty far into LA through Downey and south gate.

if you get to near where i live dont be surprised if I make a few 'corrections'

maybe i should make a custom bat for my house?

Also it looks like you have valley boulevard on the very northern end of you map if im not mistaken. not the best area but it has some very nice gentleman themed clubs if you get my drift....

edit- nvm valley is further north. you still have the area where i live in you region though.

dang looks like im subscribed now, I know too much about the area not to be interested

  Edited May 21, 2011 by Jman47